No. 23 Ole Miss hosts Lindenwood as SEC preparation continues

No. 23 Ole Miss has plenty of capable scorers.The Rebels (7-1) are using their pre-Southeastern Conference schedule to figure out their best lineup and rotation before they begin conference play. And they’ll have another chance to experiment on Saturday when they host Lindenwood in Oxford, Miss.Ole Miss’ balance was on display when five players scored in double figures during an 86-63 victory at Louisville in the SEC/ACC Challenge on Tuesday night.”We feel like we can all get double figures every night,” said guard Dre Davis, who had a season-high and team-high 20 points, “so we just focus on moving the basketball and finding the right guy every possession and taking a good shot.”Davis shot 9-of-12 from the floor. Ole Miss coach Chris Beard said Davis’ competitiveness was most attractive of the many traits he saw in the transfer from Seton Hall.”He’s a hard-playing dude,” Beard said. “He cares about his craft. He’s very competitive. It starts with intangibles with Dre and he’s a really good basketball player. He can play at all three levels on offense and he can guard different positions on defense.”The Rebels shot a season-best 56.7 percent from the floor, including 63.3 percent in the second half. They made 40 percent of their 3-pointers.Sean Pedulla scored 16 points and added a season-high seven assists. Davon Barnes scored 11, and Matthew Murrell and Jaylen Murray added 10 apiece.”He’s an aggressive scorer but we need him to be a point guard as well,” Beard said of Pedulla, a transfer from Virginia Tech. “With him and (Murray) we feel like we have two of the better guards in the country. Their ability to play together, take care of the ball and continue to improve on the defensive end will be a big signal in our fate this season.”